We’re kid-less, at least for the next couple of days. Taylor’s mom has been wanting to take them and we’ve been really needing a break from them. They probably need a break from us too. So yesterday after church, we packed up, drove to Hemet and dropped them off. We’ll see them again on Wednesday. On the way home last night, I made a list. A list of painting. When we first moved into this place and had to paint EVERYTHING (okay, we didn’t do the doors) including the ceilings in four days, I promised Taylor I would never paint again. Now that we’ve been here six months, It was high time I did some touch ups. I made a list of each color of paint we have and where I need to paint it. The list got to be quite long. There was quite a bit of cutting in to do between the walls and the ceilings that just looked bad. Plus, for some reason in our haste to paint in the beginning, we were sloppy around the outlets, so the outlet covers (almost all of them) need to be taken off and the outlets need to be painted around. Then, of course, there are spots where we accidentally hit a different wall in a spot with the wrong color, or spots that needed another coat, or other spots that need some touching up because there are crayon marks or dirty handprints or any number of other markings. I spent my whole day today, or at least six hours of it, painting, but instead of getting mad and swearing never to paint again, I felt great! I can see a difference and it’s nice to see all of my hard work paying off. The problem is, once I get started, I can’t stop! I keep finding spots that need fixing and I figure I might as well just do it while I have the paint out. I was cutting in on the ceiling in the kids’ bathroom and noticed that half of the ceiling had never been painted! I can’t believe I’ve never noticed that before. So things like that would come up and I would have to fix them. Consequently, I only got the ceilings and the bathrooms done. I didn’t finish the kids bathroom, but I did get part of the kitchen done. Tomorrow I hope to finish the kitchen, the kids bathroom, and paint around all of the wall plates and touch up all of those other spots that I mentioned earlier. I keep thinking that it shouldn’t take me as long tomorrow. After all, I don’t have as much time. That probably means I just won’t finish. Maybe in another six months I’ll get around to it again.
We went to a birthday party for one of London’s friends yesterday. Recently I have decided that we should do more homemade gifts. I have loved to make gifts for baby showers but this was my first attempt at a birthday gift for one of London’s friends. I found this great tutorial for a cute little magnet doll. London named her Lucy. It looked easy enough so we decided to try it out. We made two because, of course, London needed one for herself. She really loves it. I hope her friend loves it as much as London does.
It was a pretty simple craft. London did all the coloring. In fact, she had to color an extra couple sets of clothes because she decided to paint, using the paper with the doll on it as the scrap paper underneath the paint. Of course there are little tiny pieces, mostly teeny tiny shoes. I’m pretty sure they won’t last long. In fact, I think we’ve already lost two pairs and we’ve only had the thing made since Friday night.
This was my first attempt at using Mod Podge. What a great thing! I’ll have to use it for more projects. I’m sure London won’t mind. We’re excited to have a new toy to take to church today.
I have never given blood in my life. I am 31 years old and I am starting to feel a bit selfish. You see, my brother-in-law, Denver, always gives blood. Whenever he gets the chance, he’s there. Even if that means fainting every time. And I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even have a really cool blood type. It’s probably something wimpy like A- or A+. But here I sit, a universal type O blood donor, and never give. I think it’s time for me to think of others. So many people die because they need blood. I can help them. Why don’t I? This morning our stake (church organization) had a blood drive. I thought about going. In fact, I almost planned on going. Then I forgot until it was too late. And, once again, I didn’t give. Selfish? Probably. Chicken? Definitely. But I’ve given birth. Twice. I’m pretty sure I can spare some of my blood. Next time.
We just got back from lunch at Chick-fil-A where it’s national “dress like a cow” day. That’s right. We dressed like cows and went out to lunch. And because we did, we got lunch for free. Totally free. And it was totally worth it. London thought it was the coolest thing ever. She got to dress like a cow and go out. What could be better? In her book, nothing. So go get your cow on and have some free dinner. Hmm, now that I think of it, maybe I should go back for dinner. We’re already in costume. And, by the way, Ashton was dressed like a cow, but by the time we were through the line, he had pulled off all of his spots and “Eat Mor Chiken” sign.
I almost forgot to write about our concert last week. Remember when I told you about it? I was a little nervous. It all turned out really well. There were probably about 30 people in the audience, mostly elderly. And they LOVED it. Taylor played a couple of pieces, I played about 4 or 5 pieces, and there was a singer from New York who was here and also sang. He was very good. I just wished I wasn’t sitting in the front row because he was also very loud. Anyway, the music was great. I really enjoyed playing and listening. It really was an enjoyable experience for me. I was a little nervous during the first piece, partly because I was the first to play and it was unaccompanied. But after that, things were great. And the audience was just great. One lady came up to me afterwards and, holding my elbows, got kind of close and whispered, “You were the star of the show. That singer was great and all, but you, you were the star.” I loved it! What a great compliment! I really am glad I was able to play. Now I need something else to motivate me to practice again.
On Tuesday morning we saw a lady pushing a stroller . . . with a cat inside. Yes, a cat. London said in a matter-of-fact voice, “Mom, sometimes cats just need to be like a baby in a stroller.” Of course we just started cracking up. Then London sternly said, “It’s not funny. You can’t laugh.” How can I not laugh at that?
London loves to dress up. She’s really into princesses at the moment, but what 4-year-old little girl isn’t? She called me into her room, laughing, this morning. She wanted me to see her princess brother. Poor guy. He has no idea.
Notice not only the skirt, shoes and headband, but the choker, earrings, wand and ring. And, of course, the necklace.
Lately (since I have quit Facebook) I have spent more time on an old hobby: sewing. In all of my extra time, I should really be fixing all the little spots that need touch-up paint in our house, but who wants to do that? Not me. So I sew instead. I have really enjoyed re-fashioning items. You may remember the dresses that I made out of old shirts of Taylor’s. Here’s another example of one.
Denver was getting rid of a bunch of shirts so I took the ones I thought would make cute dresses.
The sleeves didn’t work out so well on this red one, so I re-fashioned the dress into a skirt.
It looks pretty cute and it was really easy. My latest project, though, is a fabric high chair thingy. I found a tutorial here and thought it was a great idea. Since we’re going on a 2 week vacation this summer and are not sure where along the way we will have access to high chairs, I thought I would whip one of these bad boys up and use it along our way. Ashton loves it. I used the measurements from the tutorial, but that’s about it. I instead bought an adorable Pottery Barn Kids baby quilt at Amvets (I love that thrift store!) for 5 bucks and did a bit of re-fashioning.
before
I’m happy with the result, even if it did break a needle and make my machine do funny things. I gotta get that fixed before the next project on the queue. Hmm, maybe that will give me some time to paint. Anyway, I cut up the cute little blanket, added some quilt binding around the edges, and sewed it together.
Ashton loves it! I’m so glad. I thought he might try to wriggle out of it, but he actually wants to use it! Hopefully the novelty won’t wear off before the trip. Now the question is what to do with the leftover quilt scraps. Any suggestions? Maybe a wall hanging for Ashton’s room?
Every Monday night (or almost every Monday night) we have family home evening (FHE). It’s usually pretty short and consists of a short lesson, maybe an activity, a couple of songs, scriptures, prayers and refreshments. We make it really short and informal since we have two small kids and it’s hard to keep their attention for long periods of time, especially Ashton. On Thursday, London had a primary activity where they made FHE kits. They made cookie mixes for dessert and came home with a bag of things for games and some papers for lesson and game ideas. So this afternoon the two of us made the cookies and prepared her lesson. Today was the first time that London has taught the lesson. She mostly read it but she did a great job! I was so proud of her! She taught us all about the star spangled banner (flag and song). Then we played a game called Oink Piggy Oink. In this game, a person stands in the middle of the group, blindfolded and spins around. Once he/she stops turning, he/she points to a person and says, “oink piggy oink.” The person pointed to then must oink and the person in the middle has to guess who is oinking. During one round, London pointed to Ashton and said, “oink piggy oink,” and right on cue, he leaned over and farted. I almost cried I was laughing so hard. Even as I type this I am laughing out loud. It was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. After a day like yesterday, I’m glad my kids can make me laugh every once in a while.
